A lot of pressure was thrown onto 18-year-old Mickey Moniak when the Phillies drafted him with the number one overall pick in 2016. Yet to receive his high school diploma, Moniak was paraded into Philadelphia, handed a $6.1 million signing bonus, and deemed a future superstar, comparable to Christian Yelich.
Fast-forward two years and Moniak’s professional career hasn’t blown many away as they thought. The sure-swinging outfielder hit just .236 for the Lakewood Crosscutters in his first full season out of high school, swamping his rankings on nearly every prospect board.
Moniak went from being a top-20 prospect in all of baseball to not being ranked in the Phillies’ top-10 or the league’s top-100 by Baseball America (subscription required).